Strength of the Heart
by DarkTaoAngel
Summary: A girl named Inochi Tsubasa is given a mission by her master, the lord Hao, to infiltrate the Asakura Inn and spy on Yoh and the gang. She accepts, but love always seems to get in the way.
1. Unprecedented Arrival

DarkTaoAngel: I do not own anything even remotely close to Shaman King, I am just a fan. I hope you like this story, and I will update the other ones soon!

A young girl of about sixteen walked up the steps to a small palace, having been summoned there by her master. Her entire body was shaking, soaking wet with rainwater, and her long silver hair draped loosely at her sides. Her eyes were full of fear as she walked up the wooden steps of the palace, not knowing what was to become of her from that moment onward. Her master was a strict person, and he was not easily forgiving; she expected something awful to befall her whilst she was there, but she was committed to serve him, and she could not back down now.

The stairs creaked as she began to run up them, not wanting to keep her master waiting. As she reached the door at end of the huge stairwell she slowly pulled on the silver doorknob, opening the large steel door.

As the door sprung open, it revealed the main room of what appeared to be a very vast palace, filled with many rooms and chambers. The girl heard voices conversing in the next room, one light and sharp, and one low and malicious. Though the voices were speaking to each other, their words could not easily be heard, only their tone of voice.

She walked into the building, careful not to cause too much noise on her way in, and closed the door as silently as she could. Keeping in mind that her master was not to be interrupted from his conversation, the girl stood patiently outside of the room and waited until he was done talking. Her master seemed to sense her presence because, just a few minutes later, she could hear him speaking clearly, this time to address her.

"You may come in now, Inochi Tsubasa, my conversation with Opacho is finished." The girl's eyes widened with shock upon the mention of her name, but she quickly recovered, as there was an off chance that her master might not be angry with her after all. She carefully entered the dimly lit room.

Inochi's master Hao sat on the couch opposite his renowned accomplice, Opacho, as both sets of eyes rounded their gazes to her. She looked around the room before entering, it looked about as inviting as a dungeon, in some respects it seemed like a home, but no home she had ever been in before. None the less, on Hao's command, she sat down on the chair beside the couch and awaited further instructions from him. For a moment no one spoke, but the silence was overwhelming, and it was Hao who first broke it.

"As you recall, it was I who summoned you here, Inochi," she simply nodded in response and went back to staring at the floor, nervous as she certainly was. Hao noticed this and immediately went back to speaking as if he had never stopped, "to carry out some important duties for me."

"Yes, sir, I am prepared to do whatever you say, master." Inochi's voice was wavering as she spoke, and the fear in her tone of voice was clearly pronounced. She sat forward a bit more and hugged her knees to her chest, stiffening her entire body. Hao ignored her peculiar behavior, knowing only too well of her nervousness, as he had known her for approximately a years time now.

"Given the circumstances, it seems as though my _brother_ has the upper hand," he grimaced at the word _brother_, but continued on anyways, "I have been thinking for quite some time, wondering all the while, 'what makes him stronger than I, and what does he had that I do not?' The answer is yet to be discovered, and there is only one way to find out; use a spy. That is the sole reason I called you here."

Inochi looked up at this, having thought that her summoning would give far worse results. "You don't mean…"

"Yes, I do. I want you to be my spy. Lie to them, betray them, do whatever it takes to find out the answer. You may take as long as is needed, I will wait until then." Hao stared straight into her eyes, and she knew that he meant what he had said, "You may begin immediately, I will be waiting for you here."

She left the palace, out the same door in which she had come, with more than a frown, but less than a smile on her face. She was not in trouble, but this mission would be no less than difficult to accomplish, and it would take some time.

She was near Izumo, and it would take her but a few minutes to reach the Asakura house, but anything from then on, she would have to make up as she went along.

She knew she had found the Inn when she first saw it; it was huge, even larger than her master's palace. It had many floors and, as was apparent upon nearing it, many people lived there as well. She would have to also, if she wanted to truly get to know them all.

She walked up the steps and to the door hearing shouts from the inside, ones of crude language and much name-calling. She knocked on the brass doorknob, as footsteps signaled the rush to answer the door. She heard on last clank before the wooden door sprung open, and a brunette boy smiled at her from the doorway.

"Hello there, I am Inochi Tsubasa, and I was wondering if I might get a chance to stay here for a few days, though I don't wish to be too much trouble." She tried to sound innocent, and was pulling it off wonderfully.

"Sure, Inochi, come on in, you can stay here as long as you want." He smiled as she stepped inside, so unaware of what her reason for being there truly was.

DarkTaoAngel: Thank you all for reading, as I really appreciate it! Please review nicely, and no flames unless necessary!


	2. First Meeting: Part one

DarkTaoAngel: Updating is taking a while, but it is being done. I hope that I get some reviews from this chapter, and thank you for taking time to read it!

As Inochi stepped inside of the large Inn, it only partially occurred to her that this mission might be just a bit more difficult than all of the others. There were only four other people in the place that she could see. One of them had blue hair, with someone who looked just like his sister standing beside him, arguing. The Usui siblings, Inochi had heard of them. There were also two girls, one with short pink hair, who looked rather shy, and she could only be Tamara. The other was Anna, Yoh's fiancée, as Hao had filled Inochi in on most everything about them all.

"Horohoro, you had better not be the cause of all this!" someone at the top of the stairs shouted down. It was Ren, Inochi knew of him as well, though not altogether what he looked like. He sounded rather angry, as was usual, though she did not know this. As he stormed down the stairs, it was then that she got a good glimpse of him.

He had dark purple hair, which went up in a spike at the back, and sparkling golden eyes. He looked as though he worked out quite a bit, as his muscles were finely toned, and he looked very strong. He was still shouting as he came down the stairs, but stopped abruptly when he saw Inochi. His face went very red, perhaps from yelling, or maybe something else. She ran her fingers through her hair and turned away when they made eye contact.

"Ren, this is Inochi. She is going to be staying here for a while." Yoh told him, as he began to lead Inochi up to her new room.

Ren almost wanted to say 'good', but he restrained himself from being sarcastic, though he did not know why. He ran up to his room again, locking the door behind him, leaving the others downstairs, looking baffled.

Yoh led Inochi into her room. It was a very large room, and wonderfully welcoming at first sight. She really liked it, and part of her was glad that she got as much time as she wanted to to stay here, she almost forgot why she was here in the first place. She liked her room, and she especially wanted to see _him_ again.

She dropped her bags beside her bed and looked around the room. Yoh left so that she could get more comfortable, as she began unpacking her things.

"I think I am going to like it here." She smiled. For the first time in so many years, she had something to smile about.

DarkTaoAngel: I really wanted to make this chapter longer, but I will make up for it in the future. It is up to you to decide if content is better than length, so please review!


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